Saturday, July 25, 2009

Robert H. Long Nature Park - Commerce Twp. - MI

2009-07-24 10:00 am - 12:30 pm

Judy and I returned to Robert Long Park for another try at seeing the Red-Headed Woodpecker and Black-Crowned Night Heron we missed last time. Again we saw neither. But again, we had a wonderful time and added a new bird or two.



Here is the species list:

Canada Geese (lots!)
Great Egret (several). We were able to come fairly close to one who was feeding. Great photo ops!
Great Blue Herons (several)
Barn Swallows (nesting in the bridge and pavilion - some babies, but the babies have mostly left)
American Robins
Northern Flicker (one juvenile)
Red-Winged Blackbirds (common)
Ring-Billed gulls (lots)
Killdeer (several)
Mute Swans (several). It was interesting to get some pics with its wings sread out. You can really see that it was probably a swan that inspired artists' conceptions of angel wings!
American Goldfinch (uncommon)
Mallards (lots - lots of juveniles)
Mourning Doves (uncommon)
Double-Crested Cormorants(five adults sitting on stumps)
Pied-Billed Grebe


Cedar Waxwings (two)
Wood Duck? (young male)
Tree Swallows (a few - localized)
Phoebe or Wood-Peewee (pics too fuzzy to ID - I'll call it a "peephe" until I delete it)
Juvenile Brown-Headed Cowbird (I thought it was a House Finch with a weird beak))
House Wren (very vocal!)

Lesser Yellowlegs (a sandpiper guy)

I thought we finally heard the "Drink your tea" bird, but it only had one final note, and not the repeated last note I seem to find for the towhee usually associated with this mnemonic. (I'll have to keep searching...)

And, we saw a muskrat, several turtles, dragonflies (many species), butterflies (one monarch, and white ones).

This is a great place with several habitats, although the aquatic birds are most abundant.

It was interesting to see a couple of birders in business casual taking a lunch break here. What a great way to take lunch!

Another birder we met (who seems to frequent the spot) said he had not seen the Red-headed Woodpecker for a week or more, but told us where he normally saw it.

We plan to return periodically to see what shows up! What fun!



Cheers!
"Dr. Bob"

3 comments:

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Darrin OBrien said...

Dr. Bob, I was one of the 2 business lunch birders. The cheek-ring duck is a Wood Duck (there were at least 2 near the metal bench).
The "female House Finch" is a Brown-headed Cowbird.
The 1st photo long-tailed peephe looks like an Eastern Phoebe. There was also a calling Eastern Wood-pewee that day.
One of the other long-tailed peephe photo looks like it may be a Warbling Vireo (common breeder at the park).
I haven't had Eastern Towhee at the park previously. Where did you hear the bird you suspected as the towhee?

Good luck at the park...there is a lot to be found. I've had 152 species of birds there in the past 4-5 years.

--Darrin O'Brien

Laurent said...

Hi!

NIce start!!!

Nice shot of the PB grebe....